Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of regulations aimed at tackling hateful and abusive content towards LGBTQ+ people online; and whether she plans to introduce further measures to help increase levels of accountability and improve protections for vulnerable and minority communities.

Online abuse and harassment has no place in our society. Under the Online Safety Act, services must have proportionate systems and processes in place to prevent users from encountering illegal content including online harassment and to protect children from harmful content.

For large user-to-user platforms, known as ‘Category 1’ services, it will also provide adult users with more protections from hate speech by offering them more choice over the types of content they engage with, filter content from non-verified accounts and hold platforms to account for their terms of service. Ofcom aims to publish its final policy statements and guidance in 2027.